As hardware for reproducing and storing high resolution or high quality video content is being developed and supplied, a need for a video codec for effectively encoding or decoding the high resolution or high quality video content is increasing. According to a conventional video codec, a video is encoded according to a limited encoding method based on a macroblock having a predetermined size.
A video codec reduces an amount of data by using a prediction method based on a high temporal and spatial relationship between images of a video. According to the prediction method, image information is recorded by using a temporal or spatial distance between images, prediction errors, etc. so as to predict a current image by using peripheral images.